Hours away from Ballard Day

KEXP is taking over my little neighborhood of Ballard tomorrow, broadcasting from various stores throughout the day, starting at 6AM.

Live performances include Common Market (7AM,) Arthur and Yu (9AM,) Throw Me the Statue (11AM,) Mochipet, Man Plus, Velella Velella, and Cloud Cult (5PM). Then, in the evening, KEXP DJ's will be spinning at various venues/bars. Here's the map and schedule of events for the day (pdf).

Playlist: Ballard Day 2008

Michael Franti was one of last year's highlights, here playing from Sonic Boom Records:

April's showers bring Summer music festivals

It's April, so it must be raining outside. Let me rephrase that... it's Seattle and it's not summer, so it must be raining outside. What a better way to spend a drizzly day than to dream about all the great music festivals hitting the Northwest this summer.

Playlist: Sasquatch Music Festival (May 24-26)
The kickoff to the season is the Sasquatch Music Festival, which year after year, gets the most best tasting/less filling lineup in the country. Doesn't get the press that Coachella gets, but the lineup is top notch, and it's hard to beat watching your favorite band with Grand Canyon Jr. (the Gorge) as a backdrop. Bands like R.E.M., Modest Mouse, The Cure and Death Cab For Cutie are great decoys for the real entertainment on a second stage. That's where you can see acts like Destroyer, Stephen Malkmus, Battles, Okkervil River in a slightly more intimate setting.
Must See: Fleet Foxes

Playlist: Sub Pop 20th Anniversary Festival (July 12-13)
The initial lineup was just announced this week, but rumors of a Green River reunion have been circulating since the fall. Not only do we get a GR reunion, but also reuniting for the event are Red Red Meat, Fluid, Seaweed and Beachwood Sparks. (What, no Tad?) The rest of the lineup is filled with current roster acts like Wolf Parade, Iron & Wine, Fleet Foxes and Flight of the Conchords, but no sight of the crossover successes - The Shins and Band of Horses. Portland's Sub Pop contingent is missing as well -- perhaps Hazel, Pond and The Spinanes can get their act together in time for the event?
Must see: Green River (duh?)
Website: SP20 Details

Playlist: Pemberton Music Festival (July 25-27)
This is a first for the Whistler area and I for one was surprised to see the local residents approve the festival. With a camping set-up and acts like Black Mountain, Jay-Z, Tom Petty, My Morning Jacket (see full lineup) it's a good thing Canada is much looser with their Marijuana laws. They even have a family section for camping, which presumably won't have the same cannibas fog surrounding it.
Must see: Sam Roberts Band (when in Canada...)
Website: Pemberton Festival

Playlist: Capitol Hill Block Party (July 25-26)
Occurring at the same time as Pemberton, CHBP has grown leaps and bounds throughout the years, but finally seems to have settled on a size, as this year resembles the last couple in size and strength (manageable and 'like bull', respectively). Vampire Weekends' got a busy, uh... weekend playing both CHBP and Pemberton fests. Other highlights for this neighborhood party include The Hold Steady, Kimya Dawson and Jay Reatard.
Must see: Jay Reatard!
Website: The Stranger's CHBP site

Playlist: Bumbershoot (August 30–September 1)
The annual labor day weekend arts extravaganza is always the bohemoth lying in wait... the giant straw that breaks your festival going back. I believe I've attended now every year since 1987, which makes my attendance this year of drinking age (21 years!) The beer gardens better watch out! A preview lineup has been announced featuring Beck, Neko Case, M. Ward, Dan Deacon and Wreckless Eric (!) among many others. It's too early to say how it's going to look, though, as there's a lot of time for plenty of surprise announcements to come. We'll of course be monitoring the situation.
Must see: Man Man (just added)
Website: Bumbershoot.org

So, who wants to fly to the Seattle area for the summer now?

Throw Me the Statue on a ferry

Another fine release this week comes from Throw Me a Statue, who's album Moonbeams is a pleasant surprise, full of plenty of happy and beautiful pop moments. Hummable choruses, percussive acoustic guitars and the glockenspiel are ingredients that suggest twee, but it's a bit more meaty and adventurous than that.

Check out a recent performance for La Blogothèque take away show performance, done in my backyard... on a Seattle ferry to Bainbridge Island and back on the Puget Sound. Here they perform Guided By Voices' "My Valuable Hunting Knife" with the Seattle skyline as a backdrop.

Throw Me the Statue - My Valuable Hunting Knife
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Other songs performed: "Lolita" and "About to Walk"

Spoon vs the kids

It's this time every year that I pontificate on the busiest weekend in Seattle. Seafair is ratcheted up to it's highest level with the Torchlight Parade, the Capitol Hill Block Party, and the Ballard Seafoodfest all converging on Saturday night. In the past I've justified staying close to home by portraying a battle of a crowded noisy concert (CHBP) against a quaint drunken neighborhood carnival (BSF.) This year, I can't even pretend. CHBP this year has Spoon, Blue Scholars, John Vanderslice, Viva Voce, Silversun Pickups, the Blood Brothers and more, while BSF has... well... The Squirrels (as always) and polka. Now I always loves me some Squirrels, but how do I convince you that polka should win out over Spoon?

Playlist: Capitol Hill Block Party 2007
Playlist: Ballard Seafoodfest 2007

If it were just music we were talking about, it's no contest. But there's other considerations here, and it's all about the kids. When you add puppet shows, toy boat making, fireman shooting their hoses in the air along with giant inflatable whales, trucks and slides you got something to compete with. Just add the Squirrels (pictured left) and a beer garden for daddy, and the only Spoon I'll be seeing is the one shoveling Biringer Farms Strawberry Shortcake into my mouth.

Previously: Punk vs Circumstance

Squirrels photo via Rancho Canyon Music

tags: playlist, music, capitol hill block party, ballard seafoodfest, seattle, spoon, the squirrels

Rock the boat

Ok, bear with me for a minute while I get this off my chest. In Seattle, we don't call them ferry boats... we call them ferries. Got it? Around here, calling them ferry boats is akin to calling a yacht a yacht boat... it's redundant. Every time I hear them referred to as such on Grey's Anatomy, it induces some cringing - and it's not just me. Perhaps the addition of 'boat' is because of the confusion that might be caused from hearing McDreamy pronounce "I have a thing for ferries," as he did last night (and in front of Isaiah Washington's Dr. Burke, no less.)

Last night was Grey's 'Super Bowl' episode, a code name given by creator/writer Shonda Rhimes, referring to last year's
two-part disaster episodes "It's The End of the World As We Know It," which followed the Super Bowl (and catapulted the show to the top of the ratings.) Whereas last year, the danger was inside the hospital (a bomb,) this time they're out at the scene of a ferry crash, and Rhimes makes full use of her bag of tricks. The ferries have long been a metaphor for Mer and Der's relationship, so seeing one ablaze gives testament to the effect that Mer's mother had last week in her brief (but fiery) moment of lucidity. The other tool here is the use of the lost young girl who more fully represents Mer's feelings post-mom encounter. Also the fact that she begins and ends the episode underwater hardly needs emphasis here.

Musically, Grey's brings out their big guns from last year, Snow Patrol, who's songs used in last year's season finale helped make hits of both the show and artist. This time out the song is "Make This Go On Forever" and it lyrically follows Meredith off the dock into the water:

The weight of water, the way you taught me to look past everything I have ever learned
The final word in the final sentence you ever uttered to me was love
And I don't know where to look
My words just break and melt
Please just save me from this darkness

Hope Meredith can hold her breath under water better then she did with 'toxic girl' last week...

Playlist: Grey's Anatomy - Episode 315
Title track: "Walk on Water" - Neil Diamond (or maybe Eddie Money?)
Tracklisting

Previously: The outing of Preston Burke (Episode 3.11-12)

tags: music, television, soundtrack, greys anatomy, snow patrol, ferries, seattle, regina spektor